JUST CHICKEN IN

This was a card I made some time ago but I didn't have anything "fresh" for today since what I have made recently are for Yahoo Group members. You'll see them later.

The stamps used for this card are from Stampin Up. I had actualy found some paper that looked like chicken wire which worked perfectly with the design. Yellow paper is from Lasting Impressions. I don't think it needs much more explanation.

Thanks for looking. (I may be gone the next couple of days so it may be Friday before I can post a new card. We're taking two granddaughters to the Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.)

"B" is for Bird House and Blue Birds

The group that I belong to on Yahoo is having a second go around with an Alphabet Swap. The last letter was the letter "B". I bought this cute little stamp when 12 of our group gathered in June. Blue and green cardstock is from SU. I used COPIC MARKERS to color the image and attached a small white flower to the upper corner with a Willow Brad from Lasting Impressions.

POCKET CARD

This card is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 pocket card and was made by papers from Making Memories "Max" collection. I had received a card made like this from a friend (Kris). Very simple to make and can be a nice alternative to the typical A2 card for the recipient. I made a little card that pulls out with the sentiment showing....leaving room for a written message and signature on the bottom of the insert. Instead you could make a children's card and tuck in some money......which is something our grandchildren are always excited to see.

Comments are always welcome. Tell me what you think.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!

USING FLOWER SOFT

Earlier in the month I needed some cards for a nephew and his fiancees couple's shower. I had never worked with Flower Soft but decided to give it a try. The Flower Soft was sprinkled onto flower wires which had been dipped in glue and left to dry over night.

The main part of the card was made with Powdered Sugar cardstock from Lasting Impressions and embossed on the right border with a CB folder.

The next day I put one of the Nestabilities rectangles on the card and masked off the rest of the area around the die. I sponged some VersaColor Boysenberry ink into the rectangle. Then I attached the Flower Soft Vase according to the directions and inserted the flowers I had made the night before.

I stamped the sentiment on a rectangle and then sponged the Boysenberry ink around the edges.

Thanks for looking.............

USING ALCOHOL INK

I have been watching some videos for different techniques and the ones with Alcohol Inks really looked interesting. I ordered a bunch of colors and this is one of the first projects that I made. The inks dry very quickly so I was able to stamp the tree image and the birds soon after. Since the background is done on glossy paper, I had to be very careful to place the stamps straight down and the lift straight up so as not to smudge the designs. The black layer is also glossy paper and then mounted on cardstock from Stampin Up.

Working with these alcohol inks has been so much fun and you can get so many different looks. No doubt you will see more examples on my blog page in the future.

NO STAMPING CARD

Using Spellbinders dies really helps to make a card. I really like the Labels 4 to use as a mat. This card was made once again using Powdered Sugar paper from Lasting Impressions. The yellow and pink cardstock is from Stampin Up and the leaves is just some scraps I had. Leaves were cut with a Sizzix die and cut apart to give me the shape I wanted.

Have a great rest of the day. Come back again soon.

OUR PRIDE AND JOY

No sample of a card today. Yesterday our daughters took all six grandchildren to a portrait studio and had their pictures taken. This was a belated Anniversary present from them and they couldn't have given us anything that would have meant more. I just had to share one of the pictures of our precious grandchildren. No you can't have them. :)

ANNIVERSARY CARD FOR MY SISTER

I don't think my sister checks out my blog page so hopefully it is safe to post this picture early. I hope it shows that I made an embossed frame on the Powdered Sugar cardstock from

Lasting Impressions.

I stamped the design on Powdered Sugar cardstock and colored with Copic Marker. I then cut the design using a scalloped square Nestabilites, a layer of an SU Mellow Moss paper with a slightly bigger plain square Nestabilities and a third layer with a lilac colored cardstock that I have. The sentiment is from a set of Stampendous stamps.

Thanks for looking and please stop by again soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

My mother needed a birthday card to send to one of my cousins, and Mother always likes to have a little ribbon on the card. I had been working with some of my older retired Hero Arts stamps (E2756 Field Flower Blossom and F2665 A Real Field Wildflower) that had been neglected. The "E" stamp is a reverse image of just the blossom which I stamped with Bamboo VersaColor ink and then the "F" stamp was stamped over it. I'm not sure if it shows, but there is a little bit of a "halo" around the blossom from the "E" stamp. Some of the Hero Arts flower stamps were among the first of the stamps I ever purchased and are so easy to work with.

The cardstock is from Lasting Impressions. I stamped the image on a piece of Snickerdoodle paper, and then sponged some of the Bamboo VersaColor ink to give a softer look to the layer. The green layer is called "Thyme - Solid".

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back soon.

A SILOUETTE

Brayering ink can give a real simple background for a silouette stamp. I used 3 colors of VersaColor inks to make the background beginning with the lightest shade first. The image was then stamped over the background using Black Memento Ink.

While several friends met in June, Harriet showed us how to use this technique of adding some highlights with a white gel pen. I'm not sure I did it justice, but this is what I came up with. :)

The image is from Stampin Up. All inks are available through me.

BUTTERFLY TRIO

Three more quick cards. As I may have said before, I love butterflies on cards. These three were heat embosssed with black powder on vellum. I then colored them with SU markers. The nice thing about embossing in black is that I was able to just color right over all the embossing and it doesn't show. Also when cutting out the butterflies I was able to cut a little further from the black embossing and then just touch up the edges with a black Copic marker.

FLOURISHED FRAME CB FOLDER

I received the new CB folders and just had to use one of them "right now". I think this design is so pretty and it can certainly be used in many ways. I just wanted a quickie card so I used Egyptian Gold embossing powder for the Thanks So Much. I'm sure there are going to be others who will come up with some really great designs to put in the space but I do think this makes a pretty thank you card.

CRISS-CROSS CARD

I have decided it is time to challenge myself to making something other than the traditional A2 card format. I saw this type of card referred to somewhere recently and was able to print off the directions which were given step by step and very clear - including all the exact measurements. The card was so much easier to make than I had thought. I actually made four last night.

ALL-STAR BASEBALL GAME

Since the All-Star Baseball Game is going to be played tonight I guess it's appropriate that I post another of my baseball cards. I hope I don't bore anyone with my baseball cards but this is a project I am concentrating on right now.

This red cardstock is from Stampin Up. I stamped and colored the image from a retired SU set which I purchased from eBay that is perfect for my project. Using a Spellbinders Plain Rectangle die I cut out the image and then embossed it to give it a nice finish. Then I used a Spellbiners Plain Rectangle die to make a frame on the front of the card that was slightly bigger than the stamped image layer.

The "Play Ball" and the baseball design are from a CTMH All Star stamp set that I also found on eBay.

SIMPLICITY

It's a lot of fun to look at blogs with all the fancy detailed cards. There are so many talented artists out there. However, due to having limited quantities of time to sit and "fuss" over cards I love to make simple cards.

This card was made using Powdered Sugar paper from Lasting Impressions. Before embossing with the CB Circle folders, I placed a light pencil line where I would want the bottom edge of each of the circles so they would be straight. Butterflies are one of my favorite things and I have a small set of three butterflies from Inkadinkado that needed come out of the wrapper.

Most of my time was actually spent finding a paper that I wanted to use on the top of the card that would work with the butterfly images. When I found this pink/black/white combination it seemed to work. The butterflies were then colored with a marker from Stampin Up. Stamping the images was easy using my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.

I added a "Hi!" in another CB circle and cut it with a Spellbinders die.

Thanks for looking!

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE

Since I haven't been posting as regularly as I like, I am adding another card which is very easy to make.

I dry embossed the cupcake with a stencil from Lasting Impressions. As you can see I used separate colors for each portion of the cupcake. I pieced the shapes together and adhered them to a circle which had been made with a Marvy Uchida scalloped circle punch and run my through my Cuttlebug. The white layer was also done with a Cuttlebug folder and then mounted on a "Seaside" Lasting Impressions card stock.

The nice thing about paper piecing with dry embossed shapes is that you don't have to color anything and the card can be assembled very quickly.

GET WELL CARD

I am pulling out a card that I made some time ago. I had ususally stayed away from this type of stamp but I saw it done on a card and really liked it. It is one of the easier designs of this type to do. The entire design is one stamp from Penny Black. The cardstock is from Lasting Impressions. After stamping the design I smudged some light brown ink that matched the main card over the wording and then colored the image with various markers. (I didn't have any Copics at the time.) The main piece is mounted on a light yellow paper and then adhered to the "Garden Tool Tan" card stock.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

As we all celebrate July 4th with family and friends, let us all take a moment to remember those who are serving in our military to help keep this country safe and free.

Wishing all of you a Happy 4th of July! And hoping all of you travel safely.